by Barbara Minton
(The Best Years in Life) A look at the shelf space devoted to Tylenol in drug and discount stores gives the impression that everyone is popping them like candy and you be should too. Tylenol is one of the most commonly used over-the-counter drugs taken worldwide for treatment of pain and fever. However, that bubble seems to be bursting as more research documents the pitfalls of our love affair.
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The latest is the finding published in JAMA Pediatrics that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, may raise the risk of attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), behavior problems, and hyperkinetic disorders by up to 40% in children whose mothers took the drug during pregnancy. And the more Tylenol taken, the greater the increase in risk.
Previous findings from several investigations have shown that acetaminophen is a powerful hormone disruptor, and abnormal hormonal exposure during the fetal period may negatively influence brain development. Tylenol may also be neurotoxic to developing brain cells.
A study published at the end of 2013 found that women who took acetaminophen during pregnancy had a 70% increased risk of their children exhibiting serious behavior problems by the age of three.
Not surprisingly, the manufacturer is denying the value of these findings, and claiming that Tylenol has “one of the most favorable safety profiles”. This statement is laughable in light of the evidence to the contrary.
Tylenol is safe – really?
A study by the University of Copenhagen has concluded that the risk of cryptorchidism (undescended testicles), which can cause fertility problems later in life, is dramatically increased by maternal use of acetaminophen or other painkillers. The increase in risk is related to the volume and frequency of painkiller use, and the part of the pregnancy during which painkillers are taken.
Is acetaminophen use responsible for the escalating rates of autism? A study published last year in the journal Environmental Health explored the relationship with ecological analysis identifying country-level correlations between indicators of prenatal and perinatal use of acetaminophen exposure and autism spectrum disorder. Like all ecological analyses, their data cannot provide strong evidence of causality. But a growing body of experimental and clinical evidence linking acetaminophen to metabolic pathways shown to be important in autism and related abnormalities was revealed. Taken together, this evidence strongly suggest the need for further study.